I don’t recall ever seeing a “Producers Form 88 Rider” in anybody’s forms catalog. I often see leases with “See Exhibit A attached” at the end. Exhibit A will have additional provisions that may or may not do anything to make the lease better one way or the other. I developed an Addendum for one of my “lessee” clients that was attached to the AAPL 690/691 lease forms they were using. It added an additional pipeline easement and some other things they needed, plus a couple paragraphs for the lessor’s benefit. It didn’t actually add benefits the lessor didn’t already have under various statutes, regulations and implied covenants, but they felt better seeing them in writing as part of the lease.

A lot of leases these days are word processed documents written by a lawyer or landman or whoever. I think they usually start out copying one of the pre-printed forms, and then edit in ways they think better serve their interests. I’ve written a number of lease forms, with “Producers Form 88″ at the top along with some meaningless letters/numbers; the body of the lease done with small fonts and margins to make them look like they must be “standard” leases.

It would be fairly futile to try to devise a “one size fits all” rider or addendum or Exhibit A. Not only are there different lease forms, but an important “extra” for a Kansas lease could backfire in another state. There may be a “lessor’s checklist” out there somewhere, that one could use for reference in reviewing a lease and drafting a rider. I’ve never had occasion to make such a checklist myself. I think I’ve seen a few over the past 30 years, but couldn’t tell you where. You could check out royalty owner websites (there are some links on my “Links” page). While it’s better to know more about oil and gas leases before signing one, it’s an “esoteric” area of the law and fraught with traps for lawyers who are not well versed in it, not to mention non-lawyers who might think they’ve covered their bases with a rider they found somewhere or wrote themselves.

Short answer(s): No, without seeing the particular lease, I could neither point out a rider nor draft one and call it suitable. Having seen a particular lease I still couldn’t point to a ready-made rider, nor could I draft one I’d consider suitable without a consultation to identify individual circumstances that should be addressed along with “standard” lessor concerns.

I’ve noticed that penny stock promoters or others who may have SEC filing requirements always want to use AAPL 610 operating agreements and 1984 COPAS and AAPL 637 farmout agreements, even though they’re overkill for the particular drilling program. Of course they do this for the very reason you mention. Frequently, it’s not very long before such promoters use up the investors’ money and realize they’re deep into the red as to actual operation of the wells. Of course, I’m speaking from a Kansas oil patch perspective, particularly Eastern Kansas.

Getting back to lease forms, though, I’m seeing such promoters often using their own “customized” (and often incompetent) lease forms as well as assignment forms. You’re probably referring to sophisticated oil and gas investors who actually have some knowledge about the business; whereas, many of the promoters I’m seeing (not my clients, by the way) deal with investors who are totally unfamiliar with it. It has never ceased to amaze me how many people out there are willing to hand over large sums of money on the strength of basically nothing of substance.